Ellen Wilkinson

Ellen Wilkinson (8 October 1891-6 February 1947) was the Labour MP for Middlesbrough East from 30 October 1924 to 27 October 1931 and for Jarrow from 14 November 1935 to 6 February 1947. Wilkinson was known as a devout socialist who started her career as a CPGB member, supported Republican Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and helped to organize the Jarrow March in 1936.

Biography
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Greater Manchester, England on 8 October 1891, and she was raised in a working-class family. She embraced socialism at a young age and became a suffragette and a trade union officer. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, and she became one of its leading Marxist ideologues before leaving the party due to its wider international strategies and chose to join Labour after it banned dual membership in the CPGB. She was elected the Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924, and she supported the 1926 general strike. From 1929 to 1931, she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the junior Health Minister, and she was defeated for re-election in 1931. However, she returned to Parliament in 1935 as MP for Jarrow, and she was a strong advocate for Republican Spain during the Spanish Civil War and visited the battle sites. In 1936, she helped to organize the Jarrow March to crusade for jobs during Britain's Great Depression. Wilkinson went on to serve as Parliamentary Secretary for the Home Department from 1940 to 1945 and Minister of Education from 1945 to 1947, raising the school-leaving age from 14 to 15. She died of an accidental overdose of bronchitis medicine during an illness in February 1947.